This invention relates to devices for use with bags of food, pet food, potting soil, and other bulk items. More particularly, this invention relates to devices used to close and open these types of bags.
A previous invention, U.S. Pat. No. 6,105,217, “Bag Clamp”, was co-authored by this inventor, and this patent application is a set of improvements to that invention.
As covered in the cited patent application, modern polymer plastic bags are useful containers for bulk foods, bulk pet foods, and other loose, granular or small-sized items. The bags have the drawback that they are difficult to close properly once opened. They usually have smooth or slick surfaces which are difficult to grab with closure devices.
Polymer bags such as those under consideration here are often opened with the intention of closing and then re-opening then at a future time. Secure closure of the bag, to preserve product freshness for example, is necessary as is easy re-opening. Therefore, a bag closure device of this type should securely close the opened bag and be convenient to use to re-open. The previous invention by this inventor accomplished these goals by use of a strong spring to keep the device closed and by distributing the gripping force along the length of the device rather than concentrating it in the center of the device.
There are competing devices in use that also close polymer bags, but they largely fail to close and keep closed heavier bags. The competing devices tend to slip off of the bag surface easily and are much less useful.
In the cited patent, this inventor developed a device that could be made in a variety of sizes while retaining the generic characteristics of the invention. The small versions could be used for potato chip bags, popcorn bags, and the like, while the largest size would be capable of closing and re-opening larger bags of potting soil or pet food. The large device was strong enough to prevent spillage of product if a bag was knocked over, for example.
Opening polymer bags is also a problem, because they are usually tightly sealed to prevent product degradation while on store shelves. A method of quickly and predictably opening such bags is also desirable. Providing such a method prevents bag tearing, destruction of the bag, and spillage of bag contents while making bag closing and re-opening more straight-forward. The cited invention possessed features to aid consumers in opening polymer bags in an easy and safe manner, long with the above-described closure, clamping and reopening features.